Van Duinen, a native of Grand Rapids now living in Chicago, said he sought out the site for his outdoor mural, permanently installed on the building on Fulton Street with the help of a team of high school apprentices from WMCAT.

“It's very much a declaration of what art means in these kids' lives,” he said. “Hopefully we're inspiring future top 10 artists. This is where it starts.”

What also has started is second-round voting for the finalists including a $50,000 cash prize for third place and $7,000 each for fourth through 10th place.

Voting for the 10 finalists ends at 11:59 p.m. next Wednesday. The total of $449,000 in prize money will be next Thursday in DeVos Performance Hall as well as additional awards, including the five ArtPrize Jury Awards.

“I've been in the top 25 the past two years and finally broke through,” said Shangle, of Sparta, who estimates he spent 110 hours performing outdoors at The B.O.B., sometimes up to 14 hours a day.

“It's tiring, but it's enjoyable,” he said. “It's all smiling faces. If they don't like it, they keep on walking.”

Tilma, of Wayland, described his top 10 nod as “overwhelming.”

“It's been just wonderful, seeing the smiles on people's faces all week long,” he said. “Children were the greatest part of it. I was swarmed all weekend with questions, and I had great fun answering them all.”

Meanwhile, all of ArtPrize's 1,582 works of art, in 163 downtown venues plus Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park, remain on display through Oct. 9 in the exhibition created to further the conversation between artists and audiences.

“It's not really about the top 10. It's a means to an end,” DeVos said on Thursday. “What makes ArtPrize stand out is all of you.”